This invention has to do with musical instruments and more particularly is concerned with modern musical instruments of the type used to generate percussion based sounds and, more specifically, is concerned with electric drums adapted to input to percussion sound synthesizers.
Modern music requires the generation of percussion based sounds which are enhanced, distorted, processed, and amplified to highlight or fill out a musical composition. The drum is an ancient instrument capable of a relatively small range of sounds. Current electronic developments, however, permit the conversion of basic drum outputs into a wide variety of sounds ranging from the truly stacatto to electronic wails. Composers and performers thus are able to have a much greater spectrum of sounds at their disposal in composing and performing. Such drums may be likewise expected to generate the traditional sounds of the tuned drum, e.g. snare, wood block, and so on.